12 Best Online Drum Courses (September 2026)

The best online drum courses pair a written, sequential path with online media you can replay endlessly: a method book that assumes nothing, plus audio or video that shows the exact hand position, sticking and tempo. That combination matters more than any single feature, because a drummer’s progress depends on repetition with accurate feedback rather than on passive watching. In this roundup I compared 12 of the most reviewed self-paced drum programs, weighing lesson structure, how genuinely useful the online accompaniment is, and whether the content suits a complete beginner or a player with years behind the kit.

What follows is not a list of the flashiest subscriptions. Every program here is a structured drum method with online audio or video built in, which is how the best online drum courses actually reach most self-taught players. I read the ratings and the recurring complaints, checked what the media actually contains, and matched each course to the level it genuinely serves.

One thing to settle early: what you are buying is a path, not a teacher in the room. Nothing online can physically reposition your hands. Later in this guide I cover the self-audit routine that compensates for that, plus what gear you actually need before the first lesson.

If drums are one of several instruments you are learning this year, our online piano course roundup and music theory course picks follow the same testing standard, which makes them useful cross-references for anyone working on reading and timing at the same time.

Our Top 3 Picks for the Best Online Drum Courses (2026)

Every Reviewed Course Compared Side by Side

Two numbers decide most purchases here: how high a ceiling the content reaches, and whether the online component is genuinely built in rather than advertised loosely. The ratings and review counts below are the ones buyers actually left, not editorial scores.

1. Gaddiments by Steve Gadd – Rudiment Depth With Video That Removes the Guesswork

This is the program I kept coming back to while working through the roundup. Gaddiments is not a method book and it does not pretend to be one. It is a development system for drummers who can already play basic rudiments and want cleaner hands, sharper reading and a metronome that no longer dictates the tempo.

The 46 pages are dense, and every one of them is supported by online video of Steve Gadd playing the exercise. That video matters more than the page count suggests. Drags, ratamaques and open rolls are written ambiguously in standard notation, and hearing a top player resolve the spacing removes an entire layer of guesswork that a notation chart alone cannot.

Ratings sit at 4.8 across 556 reviews, and 92 percent of those reviewers gave it five stars. The clearest pattern in that feedback is that the exercises are musical. Reviewers describe improvements in reading, hand control and timing rather than just raw speed, and several point out that the work needs to be taken well below the written tempi before it is playable at all.

Displacement Studies Are the Engine of the Book

Displacement moves a figure across the bar line so the pattern keeps landing on different subdivisions of the beat. It is the least glamorous material in the book and the reason it works. Drummers who cannot yet sit at a steady tempo find that metronome practice feels like punishment, and displacement turns that metronome from an obstacle into a puzzle.

Reviewers consistently report that short sessions of this material produced the most noticeable change in their playing. One common recommendation is to slow the exercise far below the printed tempo and only climb when the sticking is automatic. The approach is demanding, and one of the recurring reservations is exactly that: the displacement pages are mentally taxing in a way a beginner will not enjoy.

Who This Course Works For, and Who It Will Frustrate

This is the right pick for an intermediate player who already has a practice routine but feels stuck. It is also the right pick for anyone who wants to genuinely understand rudiment mechanics instead of memorising patterns. Bring it to a band rehearsal and the improved hand control shows up within weeks.

It is the wrong first purchase for an absolute beginner, and reviewers say so plainly. The book assumes command of basic rudiments and focuses on hands only, so a player who wants full-kit applications has to adapt the exercises into kit patterns independently. If you need the fundamentals first, start with one of the beginner methods further down this list and come back to this one in a year.

Physical Build and Practicality

The book measures 9 by 0.14 by 12 inches and weighs 46 pages of thick, sharply printed stock, spiral bound so it sits flat on a music stand. That flat-lying design is a small detail that changes daily practice, since you stop losing your place every time you reach for a drink or change sticks.

2. Hal Leonard Drumset Method Complete Edition – Two Method Books in One Volume

Hal Leonard’s Complete Edition bundles Books 1 and 2 into a single 128-page volume, and that consolidation is the whole argument for it. If you have been working through a beginner method and felt the material thinning out, this is the natural next purchase rather than hunting for a second book later.

The structure is strictly sequential. Nothing assumes knowledge you have not already been taught, and that predictability is what reviewers respond to most. Self-taught players report finishing sections without a private teacher, and the video and audio accompaniment supports both solo practice and classroom use, which is why so many teachers adopt it.

At 4.6 across 426 reviews with 79 percent five stars, the feedback is broad and positive. The single most common reservation is physical rather than pedagogical: the combined volume is thicker and heavier than a single-book edition, and it is 2.31 pounds on a music stand.

Sequencing That Survives Without a Teacher in the Room

The value of a strict beginner sequence is that it removes decision fatigue. Every session starts with the obvious next exercise, which matters enormously for a player learning alone with no one to tell them what to work on. A player who abandons drum lessons usually does not run out of discipline, they run out of a clear next step.

Reviewers describe the pacing as broadly even, though a minority rated it mid-scale and pointed to gaps or uneven pacing for certain learners. If you already play and want to skip fundamentals, this volume will feel slow. For a first-time player the trade is worth making, and the rating spread reflects how much people get out of the straightforward path.

Video and Audio That Carry the Groove

Every lesson has accompanying video and audio, which matters most in the early stages when you need to hear whether your hi-hat is actually closed on beat two. Hearing a correct groove repeatedly, then matching it, teaches more in ten minutes than an hour of reading about it.

Because Hal Leonard is a mainstream publisher, the content is also the safest bet for a student who plans to move on to graded repertoire. You finish this volume knowing the shared vocabulary that teachers assume, which reduces the amount of correction needed when you eventually book a local lesson.

3. Drums for Kids – Popular Songs That Keep a Young Player Engaged

Drums for Kids takes a different approach from every other method here. Instead of building technique from scratch in a clinic-like sequence, it teaches through songs children already recognise, which solves the motivation problem that kills most young beginner drummers.

The 32 pages sit in Hal Leonard’s Batterie series and come with online audio accompaniment, so a child can rehearse a lesson at home with no kit and no adult playing along. Parents report genuine coordination and reading progress, and the explanations are written clearly enough that an adult who does not play can follow them.

The rating is 4.6 across 383 reviews with 75 percent five stars. The most repeated reservation concerns the printed notation, which is small enough to trouble the youngest readers, and the three-star share runs a little above the other titles that publish one, which suggests the material suits some ages better than others.

Songs as the Teaching Vehicle

Using familiar tunes changes the practice session from a drill into a performance. A child who can play the chorus of a song they love will practise it without being told, and that self-directed repetition is where coordination actually develops. Parents in the review data frequently describe practice becoming something the child initiates rather than something enforced.

It is worth being clear about the ceiling. This is an entry book, not a curriculum, and it does not attempt the sticking, hand control and independence work that the technical books in this roundup cover. Its job is to get a child playing in week one, and it does that well. Most young players will need a fuller method once the first dozen songs feel easy.

Choosing Age-Appropriate Material

Because the book is only 32 pages, a young player can move through it quickly. That is an advantage for a motivated seven-year-old and a problem for a teenager who wants something substantial. Check your child’s reading age against the printed notation size before committing, since the small type is the single complaint that recurs most.

If the child already plays a little and wants more depth, pair this with a photo-illustrated method later in the list that shows grip and drum set anatomy in pictures rather than notation. Adults starting from zero have the opposite problem and should skip straight to an adult method instead.

4. The Drumset Musician – Playback+ Tools That Reduce the Need for a Paid Teacher

The Drumset Musician earns its place through its audio platform. Hal Leonard’s Playback+ system gives you pitch-correct slowdowns, A/B looping and key changes on the accompanying tracks, and that is a genuine substitute for the slow-down-a-song feature that private teachers normally provide live.

Content runs from absolute beginner to early intermediate, organised level by level. Reviewers particularly like that the beats are ones used in real playing situations rather than exercises that never appear outside a practice room, and at 4.8 across 281 reviews with 89 percent five stars, it holds one of the highest five-star concentrations in the group.

The recurring complaint is technical and worth checking before you commit. A number of buyers reported difficulty downloading the accompanying audio files, so confirm the download process works on your device before planning a course of study around it.

Why the Playback+ Tools Change a Practice Session

A beginner’s biggest obstacle is that an unfamiliar groove is unplayable at full speed. Without a way to slow it down without dropping the pitch, the practice session becomes an exercise in frustration. Playback+ solves that directly, and A/B looping lets you hear the correct version immediately after a failed attempt, which is the fastest way to hear what your timing is doing.

The key changes are less obvious but useful. Being able to hear the same groove in a different key lets a player connect a groove to a song they already know, which is a far stronger motivator than completing an exercise in isolation. Between the slowdowns, the looping and the key changes, this is the most complete self-study audio setup among the titles here.

Where It Fits in Your Path

Its limits are honest ones. Written for beginners moving to early intermediate, an experienced player will find it light, and the book does not extend into the independence, sticking and creativity work that separates intermediate from advanced. The level-by-level layout also means a player who cannot read drum notation will struggle, which makes it worth pairing with a notation primer.

Teachers endorse it widely, and that matters more than any marketing line. A method adopted by working professionals is far more likely to contain the beats and fills that actually come up at a rehearsal than one written purely for the page.

5. FastTrack Drums Method Book 1 – A Song-Based First Step Into Playing

FastTrack Book 1 runs a compact 48 pages, and that is exactly why it works as a first purchase. Nothing in it overwhelms a new player, and every page points at a song the student can actually play through with the online audio tracks.

It rates 4.8 across 171 reviews with 86 percent five stars, a high five-star concentration in a group where ratings sit between 4.5 and 4.8. Buyers treat it as an inexpensive first step rather than a curriculum, and satisfaction is driven by approachability.

Be clear-eyed about the trade. It is basic by design, it needs supplementing once the student advances, and a 1997 publication date means limited modern styles and notation. Buy it to make the first weeks painless, then move to a fuller method rather than expecting it to carry you.

The Songbook Approach at the Earliest Level

Songbook format is genuinely effective here because it front-loads the reward. A player who can play one complete song in week one is far more likely to keep a practice routine than one drilling exercises in a clinic sequence. The play-along tracks provide the full groove so the student hears the target before attempting it.

Book 1 is the entry point of the FastTrack series, which means the depth stops early by design. That is not a defect in context, but it does mean the method is a stepping stone. Anyone who finishes it and wants a second stage should plan the next purchase before finishing this one.

Handling the Age Limitation

The 1997 publication date is the honest drawback. Styles and notation conventions have moved on, and a young player today may find the material dated compared with newer methods. For an adult beginner learning basic rock grooves, that matters very little, since the foundational beats have not changed.

Our overall scoring across this roundup came back with ratings concentrated between 4.5 and 4.8, and this title sits at the top of that band. For a first purchase on a small budget, it delivers more than titles twice its depth, because the material is honest about what a beginner is ready to learn.

6. Drumset Concepts and Creativity – Groove Construction for Players With Technique Already in Place

This book is built on a different premise from the rest of the list. Carter McLean argues that once you have the basics, the fastest route to better playing is not more exercises but fewer ideas, applied harder. Roughly 3.5 hours of online HD video lessons support that argument.

Content covers groove construction, sticking patterns, odd groupings, accent placement, weak-hand equality and independence. Rather than isolated drills, the exercises are presented as a cumulative journey, and reviewers repeatedly describe patterns that transfer straight into playing rather than staying on the practice pad.

It rates 4.7 across 152 reviews with 85 percent five stars. Reviewers who already have basic technique describe it as one of the most efficient books available for feel and creativity, and several note that it challenges even advanced players by stripping playing back to essentials.

Odd Groupings and the Weaker Hand

Odd groupings are where this book earns its reputation. Working a figure in groupings of three against a pulse of four forces the hand to work independently of the count, which is exactly how independence develops. Reviewers note that the accent work produces noticeably quieter control, since a drummer who can place a ghost note quietly can also place a full-volume accent cleanly.

The approach can feel counter-intuitive if you came up through traditional rudiment and independence studies. Reviewers who had that background were divided, describing the method as challenging but productive. If your instinct is to systematise everything into a practice grid, this book will push against that instinct in a useful way.

The Video Is Not Optional

Multiple reviewers describe the video as the central component rather than a supplement, with the tips inside it worth the cost on their own. That is credible given the 3.5 hours of HD material, and it is why this entry is listed with an online video focus rather than audio accompaniment.

One practical note from the reviews: a buyer reported being unable to unlock the video content because of a missing access code in the digital edition. If video access is the reason you are considering this title, verify the code works immediately after purchase. It is also a reason to pair it with a written method rather than relying on it alone.

7. How To Read Drum Music – The Notation Primer That Unlocks Everything Else

Reading drum music is the skill that separates a player who can copy a groove from one who can learn a new song independently. This 60-page primer covers notation and rhythm charts in a format short enough that most students finish it in a few sittings.

It rates 4.6 across 529 reviews, a large body of feedback for a narrow subject, with 77 percent five stars. That volume of feedback is a good sign: it means the approach has been tested by a wide range of self-taught players rather than a handful of enthusiasts.

The limitations are straightforward. It is a 2012 self-published edition with no audio or video accompaniment, and the scope is notation reading only. It will not teach you technique, and it will not give you a groove library. Read it first, then move to a method with media.

Why Notation Reading Changes How Fast You Learn

Without notation reading, every new song is a guessing game based on listening. With it, a chart becomes a readable instruction, and finding a transcription of a song you already know becomes a short exercise rather than a research project. For a player who wants to learn songs quickly, this is the highest-leverage skill in the whole roundup.

Because the book is only 60 pages, it fits into a practice schedule without displacing anything else. A player can work through it in the first fortnight alongside a fuller method, which means every exercise in that method becomes more useful once the notation stops being an obstacle.

What This Book Will Not Do for You

It will not develop your hands. Stick grip, foot technique and independence all need a method with demonstrations, and the narrow scope here means the book is a companion rather than a standalone course. Pair it with a photo-illustrated beginner method early in your study and the combination covers more ground in the first month.

One practical advantage of a short notation primer is that you finish it. Most self-taught players abandon a long theory book, and 60 pages with a focused subject is a realistic commitment.

8. How to Play Drums in 14 Days – Compressed Daily Progression With Free Audio

This is the most time-compressed program in the roundup, and that is a deliberate choice. Fourteen daily lessons move through time signatures, rudiments, essential beats, fills, grooves, bass drum patterns and cymbal techniques, and the free downloadable MP3 files carry the audio for every exercise.

It rates 4.5 across 528 reviews with 72 percent five stars. Self-taught beginners consistently praise the downloadable audio and the daily progression, and reviewers report it working across a wide age range, including children and older beginners.

The main reservation is that a compressed format cannot give each technique the depth it deserves. Reviewers describe the material as dense and hard to follow for true beginners or for children, and it suits older teens and adults better. There is also no chapter on electronic drum basics, which matters if you plan to practise on a pad controller.

Two Weeks to a Complete Framework

What the 14-day structure genuinely delivers is a framework rather than mastery. A player who works through it comes out the other side able to read a beat chart, play a basic rock groove, place a fill, and understand what a time signature is doing. That is a real and durable foundation, and it is why the format resonates with self-taught players who need visible progress quickly.

The downloadable audio is the strongest feature. Filenames match the book sections, so you can find the track for exercise 11 without hunting through a track list, and the files are free rather than bundled. For a player without a teacher, having the correct groove playing on demand removes the guesswork entirely.

Who This Format Excludes

A child or a first-time player who has never held sticks will likely find the pace intense. The daily progression assumes you can commit to a session every day, and the material does not linger long enough on grip or posture for those to become automatic. If you fall behind, there is no slower track to move down to.

For an older beginner with discipline and a clear goal, it is one of the more efficient starting points available. Our ratings across this roundup cluster between 4.5 and 4.8, and this title sits at the lower end for a reason: the format trades depth for speed, which suits some learners and not others.

9. Groove Essentials 1.0 – A Groove Encyclopedia With Click-Less Backing Tracks

Groove Essentials works as a reference book rather than a course. Tommy Igoe documents 52 essential grooves with notation charts, graded variations for each, and play-along MP3 tracks at slow and fast tempos across a 140-page spiral-bound volume.

It rates 4.6 across 493 reviews with 82 percent five stars, and it has been used by professional drummers and educators for more than fourteen years. That longevity is the endorsement: working teachers keep reaching for it because it covers the grooves that actually come up.

Style coverage spans rock, funk, jazz, latin and world, and it teaches song structure by slotting grooves into 8, 12 and 16 bar forms. The most repeated caveat is that the companion DVD with video instruction is not included, and some buyers had to request an access link from the publisher.

Why Click-Less Backing Tracks Change Your Timing

Most play-along tracks include a click, which trains you to follow one rather than to develop your own sense of time. These are click-less, meaning you have to feel the pulse yourself. Reviewers consistently credit this with improving internal time, and it is the single most transferable thing in the book.

The graded variations per groove are the other strength. Each pattern appears at basic and performance level, so a beginner can play the simple version on day one and the performance version once the groove is secure. A single groove is therefore a month of practice rather than a page you finish.

Read the Chart First

This is not a notation tutorial. The book assumes you can already read a drum chart, which means it sits after a notation primer in any sensible study order. Buyers who try to use it as a first book tend to bounce off it, and reviewers consistently flag that assumption as the main barrier.

The spiral binding lies flat on a music stand and the pages measure 9 by 0.34 by 12 inches. A few buyers preferred a physical CD to the download, and the content is English only, so plan your media access before you start.

10. First 50 Songs You Should Play on Drums – Repertoire With Recognisable Songs

Repertoire is where self-taught drummers most often stall. You can play exercises indefinitely and still be unable to play a song, so this 192-page volume of 50 transcriptions of well-known rock, pop and classic hits exists to close that gap directly.

It rates 4.6 across 444 reviews with 75 percent five stars. Teachers and experienced drummers rate the transcriptions and value highly, and the book is a popular gift for new drummers, which tells you how accessible the repertoire is to the people receiving it.

There is one significant mismatch to know about. Despite the beginner framing, many arrangements are upper-intermediate to advanced, and the songs are not ordered from easiest to hardest as the title implies. That mismatch is the most common criticism in the reviews.

The Gap Between Grooves and Songs

Learning a groove and learning a song are different problems. A song needs structure, transitions, a dynamic arc and endurance across several minutes, and none of that appears in an exercise book. Working through arrangements forces you to practise transitions, which is the single most neglected skill among self-taught players.

Because the songs are ones people recognise, the feedback is immediate and social. A player who can play a song other people know gets asked to play it, and that external pull is worth more than any amount of encouragement from a practice pad.

Read It as a Repertoire Source, Not a First Course

Teachers and experienced drummers rate this highest, which tells you exactly how to use it. It is a resource to dip into once you have basic technique, not a course to work through front to back. The same reviewers who praise the transcriptions flag the difficulty level as the main limitation for new players.

Two practical notes. The perfect binding does not lie flat on a music stand, and several songs span two to four pages, which forces mid-song page turns at speed. Plan for that by photocopying the long arrangements, and check the recorded version separately if you want a transcription that matches the original exactly.

11. Alfred’s Beginners Drumset Method – Photo Instruction That Shows Grip, Not Just Notes

Alfred’s Beginners Drumset Method is the most photograph-driven program in the roundup, and that is why it works. Clear photographs show stick grip, heel-up and heel-down bass drum technique, and hi-hat playing, and every exercise carries notation printed above and below the picture.

It rates 4.6 across 413 reviews with 81 percent five stars. Decades of consistent use in private studios have made it a standard beginner drum method, and the visual technique instruction and logical sequencing are the features cited most often by reviewers.

It is also the oldest title here, published in 1990, and reviewers note the artwork and photography show their age. It runs only 48 pages, which keeps coverage focused on beats rather than fills, and the most honest line in the feedback is that self-studiers typically still need a teacher to stay on track.

Pictures Solve the Grip Problem Online Lessons Cannot

Grip is the one thing a written description cannot fix. Every beginner holds their sticks badly, and a text telling you to hold them correctly changes nothing because you cannot see the difference. Photographs close that gap, showing the hand position from angles a single written instruction cannot convey.

That matters even more in self-study than it does with a teacher present, because nobody is watching your grip. Spending ten minutes on the photography at the start of this book is the closest a solo learner gets to a teacher standing behind them and correcting hand position.

A Reliable Sequence That Teachers Already Trust

The progression runs logically from simple 4/4 rock grooves through fills and four-bar riffs to jazz rhythms, and the included CD means a student can hear each groove without a private teacher. Decades of classroom use mean the sequencing has been stress-tested by teachers who had to explain it to beginners every week.

Where it ends is the real limit. At 48 pages it stops at intermediate, and the reviewers who rate it most highly are private teachers using it with a student in the room. Treat it as the technique foundation of your study, then add a groove library and a repertoire book once it runs out.

12. Rock Drumming for Beginners – A Lean Rock-Focused Path With Downloadable Audio

Rock Drumming for Beginners is deliberately narrow. It covers rock beats, grooves and rudiments across 89 pages with downloadable audio for every exercise, and it refuses to pretend to be a complete drum education.

It rates 4.5 across 393 reviews with 71 percent five stars. Self-taught beginners consistently rate the downloadable audio and the clear progression highly, and one feature stands out in the feedback: each exercise names the specific skill it requires, which makes it easy to know what to study next.

The reservations are substantive. It contains no hand technique, foot technique or hi-hat instruction, it suits total beginners best, and a substantial practice volume is needed before progress becomes noticeable.

Focused Scope as a Feature

Narrow scope is an advantage when you know your target. A player who wants to play rock, and only rock, gets a path without wading through jazz and latin material they will never use. The 89 pages are ordered logically and progress from very simple grooves to more challenging intermediate patterns.

That naming of required skills is genuinely useful. When an exercise says what it is building, you can research that specific technique elsewhere and close the gap. The book works well as the spine of a study plan rather than as the whole plan.

What You Need Alongside It

Because hand, foot and hi-hat technique are absent, this title needs a technique source alongside it. A photo-illustrated beginner method fills that gap, and the first part of this roundup covers several options for it. Readers who have already completed other beginner material may find the content redundant, which is a sign to skip it.

Reviews also caution that progress is not obvious early on, so set a longer measurement window than a couple of weeks. If you are studying with us on other instruments, our online singing course roundup makes the same point about judging a course over a realistic timeline instead of a first impression.

How to Choose an Online Drum Course That Matches Your Level

Almost every complaint in the review data for this category traces back to one mistake: buying a beginner book when you are an intermediate player, or an intermediate book when you are a beginner. Ceiling and floor are both real problems, and the fix is to read the scope before the price.

Match the Ceiling, Not the Floor

Beginner material is rarely bad. It is simply wasted on a player who already has the fundamentals. A drummer with two years of playing who buys an entry songbook will finish it in a fortnight and conclude they cannot learn, when the real problem is the purchase. Check what the highest-difficulty material in a title looks like, not just the first ten pages.

The reverse is more common and more expensive. A player with no grip instruction who buys a creativity book will spend weeks building bad habits that need unlearning. If a title assumes you can already read a drum chart, buy a notation primer first, as we noted in the groove reference entry.

Check That the Online Media Is Real

Look for the specific tools rather than the word online. Playback+ slowdowns, A/B looping and key changes are documented features. A vague promise of video lessons with no access code, as one reviewer reported, tells you to test access before planning a study schedule around it. Downloadable MP3 files named to match the book sections are the most reliable signal in this group.

Read the Scope, Not Just the Rating

Ratings across this roundup cluster tightly between 4.5 and 4.8, which means rating alone will not separate the titles for you. The separation lives in scope: 32 pages of songs for children, 128 pages of sequential method, 3.5 hours of video on creativity, or a 140-page groove encyclopedia. Each is excellent at its own job and useless outside it.

Our best mixing and mastering roundup follows the same rule in a different field: judge a course by whether it covers the ground you need, not by its aggregate score. If you already play guitar or bass, our mixing and mastering guide covers the other half of what it takes to record at home.

Route by Who Is Actually Learning

Children need material that survives without an adult engaged every day, which is why song-based books work better than exercise sequences. Adults benefit most from anything that removes decisions, so a strict progression with a clear next step beats a well-organised library you have to navigate yourself. Returning players should skip everything labelled entry level, including the most popular songbook in the group.

One more routing point for our readers: if you are building a home recording setup rather than a practice routine, timing and arrangement matter more than technique. Our songwriting course roundup is a natural companion once you can hold a groove.

Self-Auditing Without a Teacher in the Room

No course in this roundup can watch your hands, and that is the honest limitation of learning from a book. The fix is a short self-audit routine that costs nothing and catches the errors that matter most.

Record Yourself Every Week

Play two minutes of what you have been practising and record it on a phone. You will hear timing errors instantly that your hands refused to acknowledge while playing. The single biggest gain in the review data comes from practice material that forces you to hear yourself against a track, and a recording does the same job with no equipment.

Check Grip, Posture and Time in That Order

Grip first, because it is the hardest habit to break later. Photograph your hands from above while playing and compare them against the technique photographs in a photo-illustrated method. Posture second: sit forward with the snare at a comfortable angle rather than reaching around it. Time third, using a metronome for two minutes a day rather than an entire practice session.

Use Click-Less Tracks and Interleave

Click-less backing tracks are the fastest fix for timing, because they stop you outsourcing your sense of time to a click. Interleaving works too: rather than finishing one groove before starting another, switch between three patterns in a single session. Reviewers of the groove reference report measurable improvement in internal time from exactly this habit.

If you are building a home practice space, a pad and a set of headphones cover most of what these programs ask of you. Anything more elaborate can wait until you know what your playing actually needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Verdict: Which Online Drum Course You Should Buy

If you already have the fundamentals under your fingers and want your hands, reading and timing to improve, buy Gaddiments by Steve Gadd. It carries the highest review volume in the group at 556 ratings averaging 4.8, and the online video removes the ambiguity from every rudiment it teaches.

For an absolute beginner, start with Hal Leonard Drumset Method Complete Edition or The Drumset Musician, and add How To Read Drum Music in your first fortnight. For a child, Drums for Kids turns practice into songs they already know. For a player who wants a repertoire library fast, Groove Essentials gives you 52 grooves with click-less tracks, and First 50 Songs You Should Play on Drums handles the material nobody else covers.

Whatever you pick, give it a fair run of eight weeks before judging it, practise with a record running, and re-check your grip with photographs. Those three habits do more for progress than the difference between any two titles here.